Beauty and the Beast
by The Fall of Reason
Summary: He is a monster, cold to the world, a heart of stone. She is a beautiful maiden who was only trying to protect her brother and now she is stuck with him in his castle away from all she has know and introduced to a world so much darker, only to brighten it
1. Enter the Beauty

Reason – Well here is me and another attempt at a FanFic. This one keeps coming back to me though, so I hope and can carry through with this, I urge you all to harass me to write the next chapter and such but to important the disclaimer and the actual story.

Disclaimer – I do not own Bleach or any of the characters in this story.

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**Beauty and the Beast **

_Chapter 1 - Enter the Beauty _

The Cupboards clattered loudly as the young black haired girl rummaged through them. She had been all over the house; the pantry and the cupboards were all empty. Kuchiki Rukia was going to kill her brother.

If he took food, he could at least have the decency to tell her they were out. How the hell was he going to make breakfast now? He'd be mad and there would be a whole deal about it, and it would be all his fault!

She went to the kitchen door and flung it open, making it clatter on its hinges, threatening to come off them. She took a few steps outside before she stopped to look around. It wasn't all that light yet, barely after dawn but she could already feel the life in the air. She looked around the small property, not big enough for crops, and barely large enough for the one horse, lone cow and chicken coop she and her brother owned.

Rukia decide she would head down to the town they lived on the edge of, after all food was needed. She caught sight of her brother Byakuya in their tiny field and waved to him. He didn't notice, not that Rukia expected him to; he had his sword in hand and was practicing, swinging the blade through the air.

Living in the country did not suit Kuchiki Byakuya. Once upon a time he had been rich and noble, he was being groomed to be a lord and he would have been well know some day. It would have all happened if he had not met Hisana, Rukia's older sister. They fell in love and much to the protest of Byakuya's parents they were married. Byakuya was disowned after that and he and Hisana moved to the small little cottage.

Rukia was born after Hisana had left, and when her parents had passed on she had no place to go but to the sister she didn't know. Hisana died within a year of Rukia joining them, being ill for some time before. The house had seemed so small, too small for three people to live in, but after Hisana was gone it seemed far too large for Byakuya and Rukia.

She turned her back on her brother now, and started towards the village, picking up a small basket she kept at the side of the house on the way. The little town was not far, a five-minute walk to its edge at least. Rukia' swung the basket as she walked. When she got closer she could see people running around, doing morning chores and things the like. There were more people the further she got into the more people there were in the streets. Some would smile at her and some would wave, then after she past by she caught a number of people turning to each other and whispering out of the corner of her eye. She and Byakuya had been the most interesting thing to happen in this little town for a long time, they were the main topic of gossip. Rukia hated it. Being on the outside was not a fun thing.

When she got to the market she walked around, looking from stall to stall, pretending to look at food but she didn't seriously think of buying anything until she reached one stall in specific. It looked like all the other ones but it was by far Rukia's favourite place to purchase the food she needed. It was run by a farmer who lived near by, unfortunately the poor man was sick often and didn't get into market that often. He employed two younger people from the village to do most of his work for him. Yet today here he was peddling potatoes to people of the village. He was one of the nicest men she had ever met and she enjoyed talking to him.

"Ukitake! You're up and about," She said with a smile when she got to his stall, waving, "That's good to see."

"Ah Ms. Kuchiki, its good to see you too," Ukitake Jyuushiro, a tall white haired man, said setting down a vegetable he was inspecting and walking over to her with a smile, "What can I help you with today?"

"Food. Byakuya ate all the food in the house again," Rukia sighed, "So I thought who better to help me in my predicament than my favourite farmer. And call me Rukia, I don't know how many times I've told you that."

"You flatter me, but I'd be happy to help," He smiled again and turned to look at his at the he employed to help him, "Kyone! Sentarou! I want you to find the best of the crop for Ms- Rukia."

"Yes sir!" The young man and woman chirped in reply.

"I'll find the best food," Kyone said as she started to look through trying to find the best of the best.

"No, I will!" Sentarou snapped do the same.

"Like you could find good food bearded-monkey!"

"At least I could find better food than you booger girl!"

Rukia started to laugh, it was the same thing every time she saw the two; they were always trying to out do each other for the sake of their employer. I was truly amusing. Ukitake just sighed and shook his head, looking back at Rukia and trying to ignore the other two.

"So how have things been with you and your brother?" He inquired.

"The same as always," Rukia replied simply.

"So he isn't talking or showing any sign of emotion what so ever?"

"That's Byakuya."

"It's not his fault, he took losing your sister hard..."

"About thirteen years ago."

"You never get over someone you loved, and he really loved her. He might never go back to the way he was before, but give him time, as much as he needs," Ukitake said, it was the usual sort of wisdom he spouted that drew Rukia to him.

"You're talking from experience aren't you?" It wasn't really a question, she knew he was and she knew he was talking about too.

"Well Kaien is a little different, I wasn't in love with him. At least not in the same way Byakuya loved Hisana. Kaien was a good friend whom I will never forget," Ukitake said, the smile on his face had changed, he was still happy, but the kind of happy when you think of good times that you know will never happen again.

Kaien was a farm hand Ukitake had before Kyone and Sentarou. He did everything for Ukitake and lived with him. He and Rukia had become rather good friends as well, even if he was a good number of years older than she was. He had however met an unfortunate end too young. Rukia was twelve when they had brought his body back from the forest, mangled by some wild animal.

Kyone then came running forward her arms full of food, not knowing or really caring about the sad atmosphere that hung over her employer and Rukia. "Not only the best but the fastest too," she beamed.

"Its only the fastest because you hit me in the groin!" Sentarou barked as he came forward with his own food.

"You got in my way its your own fault! Now Rukia, here," Kyone said practically forcing the food on the other girl.

"NO! Take mine!"

"Stop it both of you," Ukitake said, his voice only raised a little but that was enough to get the two to stop, "Rukia will take all the food."

"Oh, Ukitake I couldn't do-" Rukia started but was cut off.

"Yes you could, and don't worry about paying for all of it now. This way you don't have to worry about getting more food for a while, even if that brother of yours chooses to eat some." Ukitake pat her on the head, "No be a good girl and take the food."

Rukia smiled at him and held out her basket for Kyone and Sentarou to tip the food they had gathered for her in. Other people had gathered around and Rukia thought it was time she got back to her brother so she said goodbye to the three of them and smiled once more at Ukitake before turning her back and walking away.

There were more people now, having come while she talked with Ukitake and getting out of the market was a task. She weaved this way and that trying not to step on anyone or anything and at the same time not wanting to drop any of the food she had. When she got to a point where the crowd thinned out she let out a relieved sigh and quickened her pace. However someone called out her name, which caused her to stumble and nearly fall flat on her face.

"Good morning Ms. Rukia"

She knew the voice and if she had seen him first she would have taken measures to avoid him. Yet with her tripping showed she heard him and now she had no choice. She turned around with the closest thing to a smile she could muster.

"Good morning Aizen."

The brunette smiled at her, a charming smile, nothing less could be expected from him. He was a nice man and even relatively handsome but something about him rubbed Rukia the wrong way. She sore she had seen him kick a puppy one day. She couldn't stand his lackey either, a white haired freak that was always smiling, Ichimaru Gin. Sure enough Gin was there now, hovering behind Aizen, looking at her with his perpetually closed eyes and his creepy smile.

"Ms. Rukia how many times have I told you to call me Sousuke," Aizen said, "I was wondering how you were doing today?"

"Fine, I was just getting some food for my brother's breakfast," She replied casting a look behind her in the direction of her home trying to a hint that she wanted to be going on her way.

"Ah yes, you take good care of your brother don't you? I envy the man who makes you his wife someday," Aizen replied, dropping some hints of his own.

Aizen had been saying things like that for nearly half a year now, repeatedly mention Rukia married and himself in the same sentence, it was one of the reasons she wished to avoid him so much.

"While it will be a while before you have to envy anyone for that reason," she spoke as she took a step backwards, "I really should be getting back home now."

"Yes, yes of course. I'm sorry to have kept you," he made a bow like gesture.

Rukia took no time getting out of there. She turned quickly and broke into a near run, just as fast as she could go without dropping anything. Aizen watched her until she was out of site and then narrowed his eyes.

"She blew you off again," Gin said smirking (only a slight difference from his normal look).

"She can't do it forever," Aizen said turning to his comrade, "She will be mine."

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_Author's Note_ - Well there you go, the first chapter I like it. I debated for a long time who was going to be the farmer Rukia was going to buy food from.. Oringinally it was Urahara, him being a shop owner and all, but how I did it works better in the long run for me, I hope to get Urahara in later.

Next Chapter - _Enter the Beast _


	2. Enter the Beast

Reason: Yay Chapter two is complete! I tried to have it done sooner, but Its getting close to the end of the semester and I have summatives, big ones so I've been working on those. So hear we are and I hope you like it

**lun - **I know, I'm happy how Aizen and Gin fit, I saw no one better to be the bad guys then... the um... bad guys

**ice illuser** - Aizen/Rukia... that kinda burns, I don't plan on making that an actual pairing, just Aizen wants her and ...ya

**Kuchiki Rukia-sama** - Beauty and the Beast is my favourite fairy tale, I love it so much, and ya I think it does go pretty well with Bleach. I hope you like the beast

**JigokuChou **- Is this soon enough?

_Disclaimer_ - I don't own Bleach and what not such.

**

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Beauty and the Beast**

_Chapter 2 - Enter the Beast_

When Rukia returned home Byakuya was seated at the kitchen table. He held a piece of paper in hand, eyes scanning over it, a rather unhappy look displayed on his features.

"I'm home," she said when he didn't acknowledge her presence.

She went about putting some food in the cupboard and setting some to put down in the cellar to keep cool. The entire time her brother did not stir or make a noise.

He was a quiet man and didn't talk all that much, he was the kind of person who could get by saying few words. Yet there was something uncomfortable about the silence that hung in the air now. He usually at least grunted to acknowledge that she was there

"Byakuya is there something wrong?" she asked as she moved to stand beside him. With still no response she stooped over and glanced at the paper over his shoulder. She managed to catch the words 'Sir Kuchiki' before he folded it up and she couldn't read anymore and he gave her an annoyed look.

"Rukia I've told you before not to look at my letters," Byakuya said his tone matching his facial expression.

Rukia met his eyes with a concerned expression, "Why were they calling you Sir Kuchiki?"

"Its a summons. Someone wants to talk to me, likely get me to fight for them and they want to seem polite. They're attempting to do that by calling me by a title I don't have," he said dismissively, "flattery works on most people."

"They want you to fight?" Rukia said even more concerned now. She moved quickly to the other side of the table and sat down so she could look him in the face.

"Likely, it would do nothing to explain all the details but the man who sent this may be in need of man power soon. Before I left my skill with a sword was one of the things I was respected for," her brother went on.

Byakuya became a little uncomfortable with this. Anytime he mentioned the time he left, or more when he had married Hisana, he became agitated. She could never tell if it was because he missed his old life or missed her sister. She knew he missed both.

Rukia just nodded knowing her brother was now likely not going to talk much. She got up and headed for the door, "I'm going to check on the chickens, probably Shirayuki and Sebon too."

"I'm going to go."

She froze at his words her hand on the door handle. She hadn't expected that. She turned to look at him eyes wide and mouth gapping a little. She couldn't think of what to say, she couldn't think of much of anything.

"It would be good, I might be able to regain some of my status. We could leave this place," he said trying to explain himself.

"You might want to leave but this is my home Byakuya!" Rukia said nearly yelling, "And if you do have to go fight what I'm I suppose to do? I'd still be here wouldn't I?"

"It wouldn't be that long I'm sure."

"Wars can go on for years!" Rukia snapped. She had taken enough of the conversation and turned her back on her brother and stormed out the door and made it rattle on its hinges.

She walked quickly across the field ignoring Byakuya when he called out to her. She went on until she got to their small-enclosed pasture. She pulled herself up to sit on the fence and just stared out over their land. She could think of better ways to relax but they involved being inside where he was right now. So she sat and watched Sebon, their horse, and Shirayuki, their cow, grazes.

She wasn't sure how long she sat there. The past over her head and started its decent in the sky but she was never good at judging time by the sun's movements. Sebon trotted over to her after a while, deciding there would be a better place to graze. She hoped off the fence and stood beside him watching as he ate until he raised his head and looked at her. Rukia pat him on the nose before started to run her hand down his neck, stroking him gently.

She heard Byakuya behind her before he spoke. She didn't bother turning to look at him, she was still mad. Sebon moved though, he was Byakuya's horse and had been since about the time Rukia came to live with them. Sebon liked Byakuya better.

"I've packed everything I'll need, I'm going to head out now," Byakuya said patting his horse on the nose, just like Rukia had.

She remained still, a slight breeze tugging at her hair and the bottom of her skirt. Byakuya shifted uneasily, he had never been very good at talking to Rukia, though he tried.

"It's not that far away, I should be able to come home before I actually start fighting... do you want me to bring you something? Anything?" a peace offering was what the question was meant as and it was the only thing that he could think of. He wanted her to not hate him entirely before he left.

Rukia turned and looked at him for a moment before looking back across their field. Anything she wanted? She wanted him to stay, she wanted her sister back and hell she wanted Aizen to leave her alone, but she knew she didn't have a chance of getting any of those. Then she noticed a small bit of movement among the grass of the field, a small butterfly dancing through the air, so graceful and delicate.

"I want a butterfly," She said still watching the one flap its tiny wings, "I want a black butterfly."

Byakuya was puzzled by her request, but none the less agreed to it. He would find her a black butterfly. He grabbed a hold of Sebon's reigns and started to walk him towards the gate of the field. "I'll see you, take care."

He undid the gate when he reached it and usher his horse out. It didn't take him long to saddle him up, he usually left the saddle sitting on the fence so it was on hand. In no time he had Sebon saddled, his bags attached and had mounted.

Rukia didn't turn around until she heard the slow sound of Sebon walking. She watched him go, it seemed like he was moving slowly, but she had the feeling she wasn't judging time properly. Just when she knew her voice would barely reach she yelled to him "Take care of yourself! And you better come back you moron!"

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It was a long ride, though it was the closest city to their town, but that didn't mean it wasn't far and Byakuya was getting tired. He didn't let it show though; he sat up straight in Sebon's saddle, casting a look from left to right. He was riding through a forest, not the nicest looking one. It had an unsettling atmosphere and that was one of the reasons. His other reason he found more important, he had yet to find the black winged butterfly he had promised his sister.

He had chosen to take a longer route home, knowing he would have a better chance to see one in this forest and the fields he would pass through than to take the road back.

It felt like he had been riding forever when he finally saw it, the little flutter in between the trees. With such little light filtering through the branches it was a miracle he saw the black wings at all.

Byakuya halted Sebon with a light tug on the reins. He dismounted his horse and rubbed its neck a little, "I'll be right back boy," he said, not looking at his animal but at the spot he had seen the butterfly. He started to walk towards it, one hand on his sword that hung from his belt, feeling uneasy; he just wanted to be safe.

He cursed himself for not moving faster a keeping track of the bug, now trying to find it he couldn't see it anywhere. He went slow, looking for any sign of movement. He didn't know how far he walked forward but before he knew it he had out sight of Senbon and he saw no point in turning back now.

It was a while before Byakuya came to the clearing. It was the first time he realized how late in the day it was. Most of the sky was black or grey, though one fragment had an orange tinge to it. When he looked around the clearing he saw flowers scattered all over the place. Lovely ones of all colours, from red to violet and sitting there on the petals of more than one of them were black winged butterflies.

He walked as quietly and carefully as he could towards the closest flower that held a butterfly, trying not to disturb it and cause it to fly away. Standing over the flower he bent over and was about ready to scoop it up when a voice filled the clearing.

"What are you doing here? This is my land."

Byakuya stood up straight again and turned his in the direction the voice had come from. The person was shrouded by shadows at the darkest side of the clearing, not quite the opposite of where Byakuya was. He could make out no detail of the shadowed person, but by the voice he could tell the person was a boy and not that old either.

"I'm simply trying to catch a butterfly," Byakuya replied calmly.

"They're mine, they live on my land," the voice said, "leave now and don't touch them."

The shadow of the person moved and there was a distinct sound of metal. The shadow changed shape, where the one arm ended there was now what Byakuya could only assume was a massive blade. So he had drawn a sword.

Byakuya responded by placing his hand on the hilt of his sword and saying, "I'm afraid I can't do that."

There was a silence that hung in the air between the two. The shadow then bent over suddenly making a noise that Byakuya couldn't quite figure out. He didn't get much time to think however because a laughed suddenly erupted from the other person.

"You aren't even going to draw. A little over confident aren't we?" the voice coming from the shadow was different now, a high pitch and a mocking tone compared to the serious one it had a moment before.

"You haven't shown me your face. I assume I can take a coward like you," Byakuya replied sharply.

"Coward? Heh, fine then I'll show you my face," then he moved, and hell he could move.

There had been a good distance between the two and Byakuya just had time to draw his sword and raise it to defend. He was not expecting such speed. Then he saw the face that startled him further. There was bright orange hair that stuck up and over half of the face was a white mask. It had a haunting look to it and the eye that looked him out of it was bright yellow where the other was brown.

Being stunned Byakuya was just barely able to block another blow. There was no playing now, with great speed of his own Byakuya fought back. They exchanged blows but blows only glanced off one another, neither doing much damage. The masked one's skill was rough, it was easy to tell he didn't really have formal teaching in swordplay, but there was strength behind each blow. Byakuya on the other hand had skill and a fair bit of speed. Even with that, the masked boy was relentless, swinging his sword in rapid succession, Byakuya keeping up the best he could.

Then it happened quickly, a cheap shot that happened to quickly for Byakuya to even know what happened. As he block a blow there came a quick kick to the shin. Byakuya's leg gave way and he fell forward, only slightly and the leg came up again hitting him in the stomach. The direction of his fall changed and he ended up on his back, sword slipping from his grasp. He looked up to see the sword come down.

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- Sebon and Shirayuki come from Rukia and Byakuya's zakpantou, Senbonzakura and Sode no Shirayuki 

_Author's Note - _Sooo, did you like? Pick a good beast? I'm taking my plot a little more from a version I read a while ago rather than the Disney one. In that one the beauty has two sisters and they each ask for something, the beauty asks for a red rose and thats what gets her father caught, I figured a black butterfly worked better for Rukia though.

Next Chapter - Far Away From Home


	3. Far From Home

Reason – Hello there everyone, I have a present for you guess what it is, guess what it is… ITS CHAPTER THREE, muwhahahaha. Okay right so here it I a wanted it to be done two days ago, before I started the exams, but then I didn't and then I got a crummy laptop today so I worked on it all day so I could have it for all of you.

I would like to thank everyone who reviewed. Thank you thank you very much. I've never received such positive feed back on a story and it means a lot to me.

Disclaimer – I Do not own Bleach.

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**Beauty and the Beast**

_Chapter 3 - Far From Home_

Nearly a week now and Rukia was losing her patience. She knew it would take him a while but she wanted him home. That bastard, she would smack him good the next time she saw him.

She hadn't really left home in the week she had spent alone. She went outside to look after the chickens and the cow and had gone once to see Ukitake. She liked going out usually but she wanted to be right there when Byakuya got back.

So she had taken to reading all day. She had learned how when she was younger, he brother had made her. She had been convinced then that he was doing because if he ever regained his title, he didn't want her to be a complete embarrassment to him. Her opinion had only changed slightly since then. He wanted her educated and to be less of an embarrassment.

She was curled up now in a slightly awkward position at the kitchen table reading a book of fables she had found lying around the tiny little cottage. She flipped through the pages taking in all the words, so focused that when some one knocked on the door it made her jump and fall from her chair.

She got up and hobbled to the front door feeling minor pain in her backside. She opened the promptly and upon doing so she wished she had checked first. Aizen stood on the other side, smiling at her, a bouquet of flowers in hand. Not far off his creepy sidekick Gin stood watching.

"Hello Aizen, what a pleasant surprise," she said with a sheepish smile.

"Good day Ms. Rukia, I came to see how you were doing. No one has seen much of you or your brother. Some of us have started to worry," he said in a very serious concerned tone as he held the flowers out to her, "I brought these for you."

"Why thank you," Rukia said taking the plants and trying to sound grateful. They were pretty but they had an Aizen air about them, like he had infected them.

There was a bit of an awkward silence. Aizen waited for her to say more and she tried hard to think of a way to get him to leave. In the end it was Aizen who chose to end it.

"I must confess, I have another reason for coming to visit, a bit of a delicate matter that I would prefer to discuss inside," he said and Rukia's stomach sank a little. She could see where this was going and she didn't like it one bit.

"I don't know if I should. My brother is away and what would someone think if they saw you coming into my home now?" she said playing at being bashful, it was really the only card she had.

All it did was make Aizen frown. He knew her and knew that this would not usually bother her. Behind him, Gin smirked.

"Well if that is a problem I suppose the words could be spoken out here," Aizen said clearly a little irritated, "I wanted to speak to you about marriage."

Rukia's stomach knotted itself, he face wanted to contort to show her disgust but she was able to stop herself. "Marriage? Why would you want to talk to me about anything like that?"

This only proved to try his patience further. "I know you are more intelligent than that. You are aware of the hints I have been dropping and I decided it was time for me to make a formal proposal."

She looked away and tried to fake a blush but she was sure it wasn't work as well as she wanted it to. "I d-don't know what to say," she said turning away as she feigned flattery.

"That's simple, say yes. Its not as if there are many other options in this small little town of ours," Aizen said. He had a cocky tone in his voice, like she would see his point and run into his arms.

All she wanted to do was gag. His last statement made her mad, like she wasn't good enough for anyone else; there were plenty of other men her age she could marry. Or was he calling her weird and saying he would be the only one to lower himself to marry a freak, she knew a few people thought of her that way. Her mind ran through a few possibilities and none of them made her very happy, she wanted him gone all the more.

"I'm sorry Aizen, I really should talk to my brother," she said turning back to him not really caring what sort of facial expression she had now. Without another word and before he had time to say anything the door was closed and Rukia was walking back to the kitchen.

Gin could hardly contain himself. He started to snicker and probably would have broken into full laughter if it weren't for the murderous look Aizen gave him. "It's not my fault she shot you down again," Gin replied to the look.

"Shut up and lets go," Aizen snapped walking away. He was not in a good mood.

* * *

It was an hour or so later when Rukia awoke at the kitchen table. She had tried to go back to reading after the little disturbance she however ended up mulling over a number of things and drifting to sleep. It was a knock on the door that woke her. She didn't want to get up thinking it was Aizen again, coming back to pressure her further.

She forced herself to get up anyways and walk to the front door. This time she checked to see who it was before she opened up. He peeped through the front window to the little man she had never seen before standing on her step. She opened the door up after looking, being a little cautious, it was a stranger after all.

"Hello, may I help you?" Rukia inquired as she stuck her head out of the doorway and looked at the man.

"Good day miss, would Sir Kuchiki be home?" the man said with a slight bow to her before getting directly down to what he wanted.

"I'm sorry but he isn't, he has been away for a little under a week," Rukia replied. She was intrigued, and a little worried. Had her brother not side that 'Sir' was being used as flattery to try and get him to do what they wanted. Did someone else want him to do something for them. "I can tell him anything you wish when he returns home," she added on in hopes of finding out what it was.

"My lord has already sent a letter to Sir Kuchiki, I simply was sent as a follow up to the request to try and further persuade him to adhere to my lord's request," The man said, "If Sir Kuchiki returns home soon, please encourage him to consider our offer."

There was no further conversation, as Rukia's mind was buzzing trying to figure something out. The man turned and walked away and she slowly closed the door as she processed what was said. The man had come from the ones who sent the letter. It sounded as if they had not heard from her brother, like he had not shown up. She bit her lip thinking about. If he hadn't seen them then where had he gone? It took little more than two days to get to the city Byakuya was traveling to, a week after he had gone, he should be on his way home now. He was a man of his word; he would not have lied to her and traveled somewhere else. So where was he, what had happened to him?

The more she thought about it the more it worried her. She realized this was so unlike her brother and it was and it was scaring her a little. She had no way to reach him, to speak to him and make sure everything was all right. She didn't even have Sebon to go look for him. She felt sick to her stomach.

She paced back and forth for a little while, trying to come up with something, anything that could ease her ill feelings. While Rukia strained her brain she could think of only one thing and that was to actually go out and look for him. Sure she didn't have the horse and it would mean leaving the animals alone for a few days but the worry would not subside. He should be home by now! She would simply walk and try and find signs of her brother, as for the animals she was sure she could get Ukitake or one of his lackeys to look after Shirayuki and the chickens.

It was under two hours before she had everything she thought she would need together. Food and cloths and all things like that. Then she set off a short detour stopping to make her request to Ukitake. The farmer asked her not to go, it was never safe for a woman to travel alone. He suggested she find someone to go with her, but with him sick and his hands needed to look after things, there was no one else Rukia would be will to go with. Beyond that she refused to listen to any of his other reasoning and after he forced extra food upon her, she left.

It didn't take long for her to realize her idea wasn't the best one. She tired out quickly, after walking for an hour or so and she hadn't reached the fork in the road. She however was a stubborn girl. Going back meant she had to walk an hour to get back to her house when if she kept going she would be an hour closer to where her brother was. Well... it made sense to her. So she kept walking.

She hadn't made it much farther by the time dusk set in. She wished she knew how long it was going to take her. Byakuya had told her how long it was on foot once but she hadn't remembered, probably because she wasn't really paying attention to him in the first place. She wished she had now, it was something she would really like to know and there were probably some other things that would come in useful now.

She moved to the side of the road now, deciding not to go any further in the dark, she at least had that much common sense. She thought it would be a good time to rest as much as she could and satisfy her stomach. Rukia sat on the ground at the side of the road, removing a little bit of bread from the bag she had been carrying with her and a bit of salted meat. She ate and as she ate she started to notice that she was getting cold and then it hit her that she had brought nothing to start a fire with and she had no idea how to do it on her own, she usually had some flint. She smacked herself on the forehead and lay on the ground using her bag as a rather lumpy pillow. Okay so maybe her common sense wasn't that great.

She lay there for a while struggling to sleep, the cold wasn't letting her. On top of that there was all the noise around. The wind was making the tree eerie and she shook with the leaves. Animals calling to one another or scratching and neighing. She went stiff when she heard the neigh, a horse, and not just any horse either. She knew that sound, she had pissed off Senbon enough to know that was an unhappy sound too.

Rukia bolted up right and looked around for any sight of her brother or his horse. When she didn't see anything she got up to her feet and heard the horse whinny once more and followed the sound. It was coming from a small bush on the other side of the road and that's where she went. She stumbled blindly not being able to see too well and nearly fell into a number of different trees before she actually found the stallion. Senbon was caught, his reigns wrapped up in a tree branch, a large tree branch. He was trying hard to pull himself free and had started to break the branch.

"Senbon, easy boy, easy," Rukia said softly as she approached him. She did so slowly and with as little stumbling as possible, she didn't want to frighten the already spooked horse.

Fortunately he calmed down when he heard her voice, though he huffed in a frustrated way. She moved to the tree he had become stuck and reach up to the branch (with some effort, she was rather short after all) and unwrapped the reigns from it. Senbon shook his head once he was free and whinnied gratefully, rather happy to be free.

"Okay boy, everything is okay, come on, come this way," she said quietly after patting him on the nose and pulling him back towards the road. He seemed to be happy to follow her and after a bit of frustrated walking they got back to where Rukia had made her little "camp" and then she wrapped her arms around the horse.

"What are you doing here boy? Where is Byakuya?" She asked the horse, hugging it and speaking to it only to comfort her a little. Finding Senbon there meant there was something wrong with her brother. Though he would never admit it he loved his horse, he wouldn't just leave it, he wouldn't let it just get away from him. "What happened?"

Rukia held onto him until she started to tire out. She rubbed his nose once more before she lay back on the ground and curled up to try and keep warm. She had become rather tired by now and even though she was cold she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Rukia awoke early the next morning, chilled to the bone she couldn't sleep any longer. Senbon stood just a little ways away from her, asleep on his feet. She didn't bother him, she got out some more food and ate, watching the horse sleep and worrying. When she was done she went to the horse and gently woke him up. Senbon was not happy about being woken up and looked at her with large annoyed eyes and a whinny.

"I know, I know, but you want to find Byakuya too don't you? You have a better idea of where he is than I do," she said and stroked his nose and back before slinging her bag over her shoulder and climbing up on his back.

Senbon was pretty good with her. Once Byakuya had started to teach her to ride when she was younger, the stallion had really not been happy with the situation. He had gradually gotten better with her and now would let her ride without any major protests.

So she rode him now, she didn't have to worry about her legs getting sore and she knew she would be going much faster now that she was by foot the previous day. Things went okay, though Rukia stopped every now and then to let Senbon rest and gave him some water from the canteen that she brought along, though that was difficult to do and she ended up spill most of it.

It was later in the day when they arrived at the fork in the road, one way branching off to a bridge after some distance and the other way going through a massive forest. Massive was even a bit of an understatement. Byakuya had shown her a map once, and it was large, very large. She stopped there and looked for a moment from each side of the fork, not being able to decide which way to go until Senbon pulled towards the forest.

"You want to go that way?" Rukia asked the steed. She was curious of why he wanted to go that way, and then she had an idea. "That's the way you went with Byakuya isn't it?"

They stopped again once more when they reached the edge of the forest. It looked so dark, something tugged at her stomach, and it was giving her such a foreboding feeling she didn't want to go inside. However Senbon pulled forward not letting her stop and think about turning back for too long before he went on. The feeling only got worse as they went further. There was something wrong here and she was afraid to find out what it was. They trudged on however, Senbon seemed rather determined for a horse, and he had some place he was going. Then he stopped, all of a sudden in the middle of the road and tossed his head.

"This is where he went?" Rukia asked looking around the feeling not leaving.

She dismounted and looked around some more, pacing up and down the road a little trying to find something, anything that would help her look. She saw nothing, nothing at all, sure there were bent twigs and such but she didn't notice them. So she went back to the horse and tugged on his reigns. Senbon refused and shook his head pulling back and refusing to let her make him move.

"Come on you stubborn horse, I want to look further down and I don't want to leave you here," She said as she tugged on the reigns some more. It was a tug-a-war between Rukia and the stallion and there really was no competition in it. Rukia finally let go and turned her back on the horse, "Fine then you stay here."

She started to walk further down the road; after she walked a bit she heard something move behind her. She turned her head and noticed the horse had moved closer to her. He didn't want to be left. After Byakuya leaving Senbon seemed afraid of having her leave as well, in fear she would not come back. Rukia smiled and kept on walking knowing the horse would keep up pace behind her.

Little more than fifteen minutes later they came across something else. It was a pathway, it was grown over really but it was unmistakably a path, or had been once upon a time. It seemed like the best thing to do even if this place was starting to scare her. This lead somewhere and if Byakuya had been just be wandering it seemed likely that he would eventually end up the house or what ever this path came out to. She stood there building up her courage for a moment before started down the path.

It was darker, plants seemed to be everywhere and it seemed impossible to walk in some places, both Rukia and Senbon were rather annoyed with this it. And then, there it was, as it had appeared out of nowhere, a huge castle. She had never seen anything anywhere remotely like it, it was beautiful. There were towers and the walks on the walls and gargoyles on all the corners. It was something from a fairytale and all Rukia could do was gape at it. She was defiantly far from home and out of her comfort zone now.

* * *

_Author's Note_ - So there we go, I actually wanted it to go further, like to have Rukia and Ichigo meet   
but thats gonna have to wait until next chapter.

Next Chapter - _Beauty meets Beast_


	4. Beauty meets Beast

Reason- Looky what I have here. ANOTHER UPDATE! See I just got a laptop, its old and crappy but it works for typing so I get a bunch more of it in cause I can type during tv time. that and I really wanted to write this chapter because hey, Ichigo and Rukia meet! fun fun. Right and since I didn't get as many reviews for Chapter 3 as I did for two, I'm doing individual reviewer response thingies cause sometimes I have fun doing that too.

**amwong88 - **Here ya go, they acctually meet. No Ichigo isn't deform he just has the mask, its part of a curse but I'll explain that later... I really just came up with it like an hour or so ago so I still gotta work out some details. And is this update soon enough?

**een nihc - **I'm glad you like it and think its fun. And yes, Aizen did deserve it, he deserves any mean thing anyone can dish out. Oh how I loath him

**Motokonobaka - **I will keep it going (I couldn't think of anything else to say ' (thats a sweat drop)))

**KittyShampoo -** The meeting has arrived. Two of my favourite things to. I can quote the Disney Beauty and the Beast pretty much word for word... same with some Bleach scenes

**rukiaprincess -** It is fabulous work isn't it? (most modest person in the world, oh yeah!)

**ice illuser - **I've been trying not to imitate the Disney version too much... but that's not working, so I hope to make it less kiddy like. I wanted to put Gin and Aizen in and those roles fit them best. Hopefully I'll get chapters out faster with the laptop.

_Disclaimer_ _-_ I don't own Bleach

* * *

**Beauty and the Beast**

_Chapter 4 - Beauty Meets Beast_

It was cold inside. Not necessarily the cold you feel on your skin, from snow or ice, but it was cold. She had left Senbon outside, though he didn't seem to want to remain there and it took some effort to get him to remain there. Now Rukia walked the halls of the massive castle, her footsteps echoing as they hit the stone floor.

"Hello?" She called out. She thought it was abandoned at first until she noticed the candles burning in the halls and now she just wanted to talk to someone. It would be so much easier to ask someone if they had seen her brother than to actually go looking for him. Unfortunately for her no one answered and she was left to wander the halls alone. It was just about as creep inside as it was out; the only thing that wasn't inside was the sound of the animals.

It seemed like it was bigger on the inside than it had appeared outside and Rukia quickly became hopelessly lost. The turns of the corridors she couldn't understand how anyone could live in a place like this and be able to get between rooms in a reasonable amount of time and to actually not get lost. Wandering around for a little while she decided maybe it was a good idea to check out the second floor of the castle, just because she had found nothing on the first floor.

When Rukia found the next set of stairs however it was leading down. She didn't really think anyone would be down there, after all the basements were dungeons weren't they? Why would anyone spend their time in a dank place like that? However she had an urge to descend the stairs. It was like something was calling. She also noted that there was light coming from down there and why would it be like that if someone had not been down there recently. So she took the stairs heading down. It was dark down there; even with the candles it seemed terribly dark.

"Hello? Anyone here?" she called out once more as she walked through what she was now sure was a dungeon. This time was different from the first however this time there was a groan in reply. "Hello?" she asked once more moving towards the sound.

"R-rukia?" a verbal reply came, and she knew who it was. Byakuya, however his voice was shaky and he seemed to be a little out of it.

"Byakuya!" she said, happy to his voice again and then she moved to where she heard him and found his cell.

"Rukia, what the hell are you doing here?" He said, sitting up slowly, for he had been lying on the stone floor. He rubbed his head and looked at her, his eyes a little bleary and she notice there was a bit of blood coming from the corner of his mouth.

"Byakuya, what happened to you?" she asked grabbing onto the bars of the cell and pushing against them to be closer to him. "You've been gone for a week, what happened? What are you doing here?"

"Not important. You need to leave," He said as he got up to his feet and moved to the bars.

"No, I have to get you out of here. I'm not leaving you here in a dungeon!" Rukia was practically yelling at him, how could he even think about leaving him there. There was no way she could do it.

"Just leave, you don't want to stay. I don't want you to stay and even if you did get me out of here there is no way he will let us get out of here," He said and grabbed her hand, in an attempt to get her to listen to her. He didn't want her to get trapped here as well, not with that monster.

"You're cold," Rukia looked down at their hands. He has freezing, she could not leave him hear. She let go and went to the door of the cell tugging on the bars there. It did nothing; she wasn't very strong after all. "Key... do you know where the keys are?"

"No," Byakuya replied simply. He did know where they were of course; he had seen them on that beast's belt. She couldn't get them and he didn't even want her to try.

Rukia bit her lip and looked around frantically. She needed to find something, anything to get him out of there. There had to something she could use to open the cell or bust the bars or something like that. There had to be! Byakuya just sighed, wondering why Rukia had to be so difficult, why couldn't she just listen to him and leave him there.

Then Byakuya realized it was all too late. It was there, that beast, that monster, whatever the hell it was. They had been talking and Rukia was practically yelling and they hadn't heard him come down the stairs, and was now standing in shadows. It would seem they hadn't even noticed him put out of couple of candles.

"Rukia leave now! Run!" Byakuya said with all the urgency he could muster. She couldn't get out, but if she ran maybe just maybe she would stand a chance. God he hoped so.

"What? I told you I'm not leav-"

"You have to! Please, run!" he cut her off. Why wouldn't she just listen to him?

Then it filled the air. The chilling laughter Byakuya first heard in that clearing and had heard a number of times since. Rukia had no idea that there had been another person in the room and jump quite a bit when the sound started. She turned quickly to look where it had come from but she saw nothing, only dark.

"You know its pointless," the voice that belonged to the chilling laughter said, "might as well kill her now. It would be much easier on her and you would have a show too."

"You so much as lay a hand on my sister and I'll gut you where you stand," Byakuya growled, a fierce look in his eyes.

"Haha, don't make me laugh. You haven't been able to stop me so far, what makes you think you stand a chance against me now?" the voice said with an evil little giggle.

Byakuya growled further but that thing had a point. He had lost their first fight because of trickery and every time it had tried to pick on him further, he had been too weak to prevent it. He was having some trouble standing now, a large bump on his head from their last little brawl and he knew he could not protect his sister. "Just let her go then, kill me if you feel blood thirsty," He said dropping his head, feeling rather defeated.

"What? No! I'm not going to let him kill you!" Rukia said rather loudly. She had remained quiet for some time but she felt she had to interject now.

"Haha, you see that, she wants to die," more laughter and then the sound of a sword leaving its sheath.

"No, I won't let you," they were words Rukia expected to come from her brother's mouth but that is not where they came from. Yet another voice had filled the air hiding in the shadows along with the one who had threatened them.

"You, damn you and your interfering! Stay out of this, they are my prisoners!" the evil voice spoke practically hissing at the other.

"This is my castle and I will not let you kill her, not if..." said the one that Rukia had deemed the good voice.

"Oh, heh, I see what you're getting at, that's why you don't want her dead." There was something going on between the two voices that the brother and sister did not understand. It unnerved Byakuya a little. "Girl," the evil voice said, "So you want your brother to be let go?"

It was a situation on which the like of her brother life and her's rested, but she couldn't help to get annoyed. "No not at all, that's just why I told you to let him go a minute ago," she replied with plenty of sarcasm to go around.

"Heh heh, then I'll make you a you a deal, if that's what you really want," the evil one spoke.

"No, no she won't make any sort of deal with you!" Byakuya said suddenly, and in a very forceful tone of voice and grabbed a hold of his sister's arm, as it to hold her back from the villainous thing that was speaking to them.

She pulled away from him though, he still held her but she was no longer right against the bars. "What kind of deal? What do you want me to do?"

"Rukia no! I will not let you stay here!" Byakuya snapped at her, pulling her back.

"No! I won't let you decide this for me Byakuya, not now," she snapped back at him, but she dropped her voice to a softer tone "I don't want you to stay here, and if this is the only way..."

"It's her choice, let the girl decide," the evil one said with a evil snicker, "all that we're asking is a trade. We'll let him go if you stay here, we'll even throw a more comfortable room into the deal."

Rukia bit her lip. Had she not just made a big fuss about leaving home when Byakuya had mentioned it. She didn't want to go but her brother's freedom was at stake. There was something else to it as well, for some reason she couldn't help but think it was something she had done that had gotten her brother into this mess and it was a matter of fact that she was the only who could get him out of it, or at least that's the way it seemed right now. While her brother pleaded with her quietly she made up her mind.

"Alright, I'll stay, but my brother has to get back to our home unharmed," Rukia said looking up into the darkness that was inhabitant by the good and evil voices.

"No, Rukia..." Byakuya said sort of helplessly. He had pleaded and demanded and she just wouldn't listen. He could think of nothing else to convince her and now that she had made her choice there was nothing he could do.

There was more laughing, a fair deal of it actually. "Alright then, its a deal."

She saw him for the first time then as he stepped out of the shadow. It was his hair she saw first, bright orange hair; his cloths were all black and hard to distinguish from the darkness. Then she noticed the mask and his eye. The chilling white mask was taking up a little more than half his face. His eyes were bizarre, they were yellow in colour but instead of having whites, they were black. He looked at her with a smirk, looked her over and then turned to go up the stairs.

Rukia was taken aback. She let out a gasp and took a step back and bumped into the bars of her brother's cell. He hugged her through the bars, holding onto her tightly as if to protect her though it was impossible.

Rukia didn't remain stunned forever however; she looked to the man who was to be her captor, his back to her now. "What about my brother!" she called to him.

He seemingly ignored her, however he reached up to his face and as he dropped the arm again Rukia noticed the mask in his hand. Then he crushed it scattering pieces of it all over the floor and kept walking. She called to him again, but still he walked, then he paused at the base of the stairs.

"Inoue! Chad! I know you were listening... take care of these two," he said, his voice had however changed. It was the nice voice, the one that had prevented the evil one from killing her.

Rukia was very confused. She had heard both voices come from him, or at least a bit of the laughter and the kind voice. They seemed to belong to completely different people, but there he was, one person, with what seemed to be multiple personalities.

Then there were more people in the dungeon, two of them. One of them was a girl with rather long hair of a redish-orange, maybe even brown; it was hard to tell in that light. Rukia couldn't help notice she was also very well endowed, how could she not notice something that size. The other was a man, no a giant, he towered over the other two, he was also rather bulky. He made messy hair, very messy had that hung in his face and was brown in colour.

Rukia's captor hand the giant a set of keys before brushing by them and heading up the stairs. The other two came forward and stopped in front of the door. The girl was smiling; a bright smile at both brother and sister while the other seemed to be rather emotionless.

"Excuse me," the giant said holding up to keys to show why he needed to her by.

Byakuya let go of his sister and took a step back and Rukia also stepped out of the way. The giant bent of over the lock and unlocked the cell, pushing in the door so Byakuya could at last be free. He walked outside of the cell he had been trapped in for days and the first thing he did was embrace his sister.

"You are really stupid," He muttered as he held onto her tightly, "you should have just left me."

"I couldn't do that," she replied and buried her face into his chest. She was scared now, what she had done was sinking in and she realized she would probably never see him again. With a lack of anything else to say to him, she added, "Senbon, he is outside."

A large had was then placed on Byakuya's should and the giant informed him that it was time for him to go. Byakuya let go very reluctantly, he didn't want to but he knew he was weak now and didn't really wish to fight with someone who was easily a foot taller than him. So with a quiet good bye the two of them left, leaving the dungeon and the girls to themselves.

They stood there quietly for a moment, Rukia's eyes on the ground and a terrible feeling of loneliness inside. Then the other girl started to hum and look around, tapping her foot, showing she was a little bored.

Eventually the other good could take the silence any longer, "Hello, I'm Inoue Orihime." She was beaming and held out her hand to Rukia, acting as if they weren't in a dank dungeon.

"Uh... Kuchiki Rukia," said slowly shaking her hand looking at her with a sceptical look.

"Well I guess I should show you to your room shouldn't I?" Inoue said and without letting go of Rukia's hand started to walk towards the stairs and up them.

Once again on the second floor, Inoue at least knew where she was going. They went through the halls quickly and at last came to a large staircase leading up to the second floor. Rukia allowed herself to be dragged by the hand, not wanting to really think on her own, she was sort of on autopilot. That was until she noticed something hanging on the wall at the top of the stairs.

It was a picture, a large picture of what seemed to be a family portrait. There was a man with short black and spiky hair, two young girls, one with black hair and the other with brown. There was a woman too, a beautiful woman with hair that looked orange and brown. Then on the one side, there was another person but long slash marks making it hard to tell anything about them except that he was a boy and not all the orange hair had been removed.

"That's... him isn't it?" Rukia said stopping to look up at the picture.

"Yes, Lord Kurosaki, oh I guess you wouldn't know his name yet, Lord Kurosaki Ichigo. The rest or his family," Inoue explained with a smile but then her face fell, "They... they all passed a away some time ago. Come on we should keep going, you can explore later on."

Rukia nodded and they kept going. She didn't pay much more attention to the walls or any other part of her surroundings. Before she knew it they stopped in front of a door, which Inoue opened to reveal a rather large room, and she led them Rukia inside.

"Here we go, I thought this room would be good for you. I always loved this room but it would take to much to move and I don't know if Lord Kurosaki would want me to," Inoue said as she moved about the room and then flung open the wardrobe. "There are some cloths here but if you want your own we have a wonderful tailor and I could send him up to see you some time."

"Hmm..." was the only reply Rukia gave and made a line right to the bed where she flopped down, burying her face in the pillows and blankets. She wasn't that tired but she didn't feel like talking so she thought it would be best to pretend she was sleepy.

"Oh, all right. I'll leave you be, " Inoue said politely and went out the door and closed it behind her. A moment later it opened again and Inoue stuck her head back in, "I'll bring you up some food later, have a good rest." Yet again she was gone and Rukia was left to herself.

She lay there for a long while, not moving not really thinking either. The fluffiness of the pillows was enough to distract her. When she did move she simply curled up without anything else to do. Eventually she started to think of what her life there would be like in that place. She wouldn't be happy, she knew that, but she wondered if she would be completely unhappy. Inoue seemed to be a little nice at least, even if it was a hyper happy.

She wasn't sure how much time passed before the door opened again. She figured it was Inoue coming back to bring food as she said she would but when Rukia rolled over to look she saw the long black robes of the lord of the castle. She rolled back so that her back was to him.

"I wanted to um talk to you... sort of a formal introduction," He said and Rukia could hear him shift around. Was he nervous?

"Your Ichigo, Inoue told me," Rukia said, looking over her shoulder at him.

"Lord Kurosaki," He said giving her an annoyed look.

"I don't see why I would have to call you that. What kind of prisoner gives their captor any sort of respect?" She asked, though it was rhetorical question.

He narrowed his eyes, he was annoyed, "I'm still a lord!" he snapped. "Anyways... I wanted to say you can go anywhere on the grounds. There is a stable and kitchen all the crap like that. My room is off limits though."

"Then that's the first place I'll visit," she smiled as she spoke. Sure she had been afraid of him earlier, but now out of the dark and in a girl's room, her room now, he seemed out of his element.

"Be like that, but if I find you in there, you'll regret it," he turned in a huff, oh how she was getting on his nerves.

He was out the door and then Rukia heard another little voice. Rather little, it was on the deep side, but it was low to the ground. "You're not going to introduce me. Your so rude!"

"Not now Kon!" he grumbled, he kicked something out of her view and there was a loud yell that got further and further away. He turned to look back at her for a moment, and said with a bit of sarcasm, "Enjoy your stay." He started to walk away and closed the door behind him.

Rukia gaped at him for a moment. Had he just kicked a child?

* * *

"She is annoying! I don't know why I asked her to stay," Ichigo said as he paced back and forth in his room.

"Because it's growing more and more each day, you know what will happen when it takes you completely," said another voice in the room. It belonged to an old man, a shady looking old man who sat on his bed, long shaggy black hair and tattered robes.

"I'd rather have that happen than get along with her!" Ichigo snapped.

"You know very well that you don't want that to happen. You care about the people hear even if you say you don't," the old man said, and then glanced out the window, "It appears as if it is going to rain."

"I hate rain..." Ichigo muttered.

He walked to a table that occupied the centre of his room. On it sat two of his most prized possessions, when he despised and one he didn't love but it was still important. The white mask, the one that appeared on his face when 'it' took over, but it was full, in one piece as it rested on the table. No matter how many times he had broken it always showed up whole again there. The other was his black blade. He had owned it as long as the mask and with it came the old man. The one who gave him advice about everything, the one who trained him, the soul of his sword, old man Zengetsu.

"I hate it too," Zengetsu said.

"You really think she'll work?" Ichigo asked looking up from the table.

"We can only hope Ichigo."

* * *

_Author's Note_ - ZENGETSU! I'm a huge fan of the sword, he is like one o the best so I had to put him in and I thought of something sort of logical... at least in my mind it works. Kon too, what is a Bleach fanfic without Kon.

Right so **I have a request **I want to put as many of the shinigami in without making it ludicris. I have Orihime, Chad and Ishida in there (I said they had an amazing tailor after all) and I have a spot for Renji and Hitsugaya, but I wanted to know, who else would people like to see and... **who could I make the cook?**

Next Chapter - Out and About


	5. Out and About

What can I say, I love you all. Never have I recieved such positive feedback on a story of mine. I apologize for the time it took me. Exams and then I tired to lock myself in my room to write it one day... I found out my room is the most distracting room in the house. Then I got violently Ill, well still am but I decided I had to finish this.

Anyways, I'd like to thank all my **21** reviewers. TWENTY-ONE for one chapter, I'm like giddy.

_Disclaimer_- I don't own Bleach

* * *

**Beauty and the Beast**

_Chapter 5 - Out and About_

Rukia awoke the next morning feeling kind of groggy. She hadn't meant to fall asleep but that was what had happened. She sat up and looked around her room then pinched herself just to double check and make sure she wasn't dreaming. She wanted it all to be a dream but there was no such luck. 

She got up and walked to the window in her room. She leaned on her windowsill and looked outside through the pane of glass. It was splattered with water, it was raining lightly outside. She looked past it though, to the large garden her room looked out to. She could see flowers mainly; she assumed most of them were vegetables.

She turned back to investigate the rest of her room. She looked at the cloths, all of them rather fancy none of them that she really liked all that much, so she decided she would just stay in her own dress even though she had be wearing it for two days, part of that time was spent sleeping on the ground. There was a vanity too, she looked at that, and a hairbrush and some make up things like that. There was a tray of food on the floor too, what she suspected was the food Inoue had said she was going to bring up to her. It was soup and it was stone cold. Rukia took one sip but after that she could do no more though her hungry stomach urged her to.

Rukia then thought it was about time she left her room, there was nothing else to do there after all. She went to the door and opened it up, looking from side to side. She took one step and she was attacked, at least that's what she thought it was at first. Something sort of brown in colour came at her a landed on her chest. She jumped back but that really did nothing. She looked down and realized it was simply a stuffed animal clinging to her. Before she had time to wonder how exactly the stuffed animal was clinging to her, she realized it was nuzzling her, nuzzling her chest to be exact.

She grabbed a hold of it and whipped it across the hall where it smacked into the wall and made a squeaking noise as it slid down. "Pervert," she muttered and then started to wonder how a stuffed animal could be a pervert.

"Ow," a small voice came from it and it stood up then looked at her with tears in its fake eyes. "I thought that you would understand, everyone here is so mean but you're from the outside," he said in a sad pathetic little voice and sniffled.

"What are you?" she asked looking at the now walking talking stuffed animal, rather confused.

"I'm a lion! And my name is Kon!" the little thing proclaimed, seeming almost pissed off, but then he calmed, "I was also told to be your guide."

That hadn't been what she meant by 'what are you?' but at the moment she was honestly too hungry to care that much at the moment. "Guide? Can you take me to the kitchen?" She asked squatting down so she was closer to eye level with the animated stuffed animal.

"Of course I can!" Kon proclaimed loudly and pointed off dramatically into the distance before he started to walk.

Rukia shook her head a little and laughed a little as she followed it. She paid more attention to her surroundings this time. She had been depressed the day before so she didn't take in much other than the portrait of the Lord's family.

It drew her eyes again as they walked by. They all looked so happy. They were smiling and she could only assume that Ichigo had been too. Why would he want to destroy the picture? Byakuya had a great number of things he kept around to remind himself of Hisana. Why didn't he keep the picture as is to do the same thing? Oh well, he was a little odd after all he did have a talking teddy bear.

As they drew closer to the kitchen the smell of food hit Rukia and she nearly started to drool, it smelt so good. It also got louder. There were voices there, unlike the rest of the castle. There was conversation and that seemed to change the atmosphere of the area, things seemed much more comfortable and like a home.

Inside the kitchen there were cabinets everywhere, various ones opened and exposing dishes and various cooking ingredients. Rukia could count at least two stoves and ovens and there was a large basin that was probably used to clean the dishes. There was also a large table near the cabinets with dishes and there were a few people sitting there.

Inoue was there, the girl Rukia had met the night before and the giant that Ichigo had referred to as Chad. Sitting with them was another young man with short black hair and a pair of glasses. Just sitting there and talking he seemed to generate and dignified sort of air. There was a young woman sitting a little ways down the table, she had black hair as well, pulled up into a bun and seemed to be a little shy. Across the table from her was an empty plate, someone had been sitting there before and had left. Then, running around the kitchen there were two other people. A woman with black hair. She was loud and commanding, barking orders to the younger man, also with black hair and a fair bit less attractive than everyone else in the room. Rukia noticed something else rather interesting with the woman too, she was missing one of her arms.

"Ms. Kuchiki!" Inoue shouted waving and snapping Rukia out her surveying mode.

"Orihime!" Kon shouted suddenly and ran forward, jumping and latching onto Inoue's chest, much the same way he had done to Rukia's.

Both the males sitting with the young girl gave the stuffed animal a rather flat look before the one Rukia didn't know grabbed a hold of the lion's tail and pulled him away and flinging him into a cupboard. "Annoying little..." He muttered before turning back to his food.

"Thank you Ishida," She said smiling before going over to Rukia and grabbing a hold of her and dragging her over to the others she had been with. "This is Kuchiki Rukia, she is the girl who is staying with us," she gave a quick introduction, mainly for Ishida's benefit as Chad had already met her and then she began to introduce her to the others to Rukia. "This is Sado Yastora, Lord Kurosaki calls him Chad though," she gestured to the giant, "and Ishida Uryruu," she pointed to the one who helped remove Kon from her. "Sado is, well he does a lot of the random chores around here and Ishida is the tailor for all of us."

Rukia nodded at each of them in turn and smiled at them as best she could. Then out of nowhere there was a rather loud explosion, but only Rukia jumped. She looked around frantically for a moment but saw only a pot on one of the stoves smoking. The woman missing an arm began to yell and smack the man who had been running around the kitchen.

"Look at what you did you moron!" She barked and smacked him up side the head causing him to stagger.

"But your the one who made that and put it-" the other started but was silenced by another blow.

"Don't try and blame me, Its not my fault your stupid!"

"They are Kuukaku and Ganju, they siblings" Ishida said never once looking fazed, "if you ever hear anything explode its most likely them."

"And down there is Hinamori Momo, she is one of the maids here. And tha- oh, Hitsugaya left already," Inoue said, going on with introduction and pointed down the table to the girl with her hair in the bun and the empty plate. Hinamori was just getting up as well so when Rukia looked at her, she gave a small bow and a quiet 'Hello,' before she scurried out of the kitchen.

"You must be hungry, I'll get you something to eat," Inoue said suddenly and ushered Rukia into a chair before going off to search in the cupboard.

"Um, Inoue," Ishida looking up and look rather worried suddenly, "maybe you should let the cooks make her food. She might not be use to your, er... unique tastes, we don't want to make her sick."

Chad nodded in an agreement and Inoue frowned for a moment before going over to the too cooks who were still yelling at each other quite a bit. Ganju was made to get Rukia's food after a few rather painful looking blows from his sister. Rukia was happy to see it wasn't from the pot that had exploded. A moment later a bowl of oatmeal was in front of Rukia.

It smelled good. Rukia devoured it leaving everyone else there to gape at her. She looked around a bit of a blush in her cheeks; they were all staring at her.

"You have one hell of a stomach," Kuukaku said with a smile, "I think I'll like you."

"Um, thanks," Rukia said feeling a little uncomfortable. She felt it was time to leave the kitchen, hopefully to spare her from more of this awkward feeling. "I'd kind of like to see the rest of the castle... I lost my guide though," she said realizing she hadn't seen Kon since Ishida had thrown him into the cupboard.

They all seemed to understand who she meant by her guide. Ishida looked towards the cupboard he had thrown the stuffed animal into. Chad however bent down and reached under the table. There was squeaking sound and when the giant sat up again the missing lion was in his hand. Kon was flailing desperately trying to free himself.

Ishida reached across the table and grab Kon by the neck, "How many times do I have to tell you, you're not aloud under the table when someone is wearing a skirt!" Kon just whimpered and tried to get loose. Ishida stood up, still holding onto his captive tightly. "He needs to be taught a lesson, you two can show Ms. Kuchiki around. If she would like I could make her some cloths while I'm at it."

Inoue and Chad got to their feet as well and nodded like they were all in agreement with this idea. Rukia got up, it only made sense for her to, and after all she was the one who was going to be shown around. She thought about cloths too, that seemed to make sense as well, her dress was starting to smell and none of the ones in her room really caught her eye so she agreed to have new ones made.

"Alright, I'll need to take some measurements," Ishida said handing Kon to Chad for a moment. Out of nowhere he then produced a measuring tape and began to go to work.

It wasn't the most comfortable thing Rukia had ever experienced, it was very awkward really. She blushed a little when he measured her bust and there was snickering coming from else where in the kitchen. Kuukaku was laughing and Kon was muttering something along the lines of 'when I do it I get in trouble' all of which made Ishida blush a bit as well.

When he was done, he took Kon back and looked at Kuukaku with a sort of annoyed expression, "I'm doing my job!" he said in his defence.

"Sure you were," the cook said sarcastically as she turned to care for something she was cooking.

Ishida turned with a huff and he made his way out of the kitchen saying something like 'I'll see you later,' as he went.

"We should probably go too, if we want to show you everything." Inoue said.

They started to leave Rukia following behind the other two. She paused for a moment however and looked back at Kuukaku and Ganju with a smile. "Thank you for breakfast." With that she turned away and followed after Chad and Inoue.

* * *

"These are the gardens."

Rukia really didn't need Inoue to tell her that. With the numerous flowers it was pretty easy to tell that they were gardens. The plants were beautiful though, all sorts of plants that she had never seen before and of course others she had. All the colours were so lovely and the water coming off the petal just made it all the more awe-inspiring.

It had stopped raining now and Chad and Inoue thought they might as well show her the grounds around the castle now that they would get soaked doing so. They had seen much of the inside and Rukia had met another one of the maids, one who, in Rukia's opinion, needed more cloths, named Masumoto Rangiku. She seemed nice.

"It looks beautiful," Rukia said as she stepped towards a red flower for a closer inspection.

"Thank you," a voice Rukia had not yet heard spoke. There was a man in the garden, he seemed to be have been inspecting some of the flowers himself. He wore a long pink robe over his shoulders and had a bottle of something in his one hand.

"This is Kyouraku Shunsui, he is our gardener," Inoue introduced him.

"Your plants are lovely," Rukia said looking around once more.

"Its a lot of hard work but its worth it," he replied with a smile, taking a sip out of his bottle and moving closer to the group.

"Its worth in because you don't have to do any of the work," said the voice of a rather disgruntled sounding woman who stood up amongst to rows of plants. Her face and the pair of glasses she was wearing were covered in dirt.

"Oh Nanao-chan, don't say things like that. I do work." Kyouraku said pouting a little.

"That's his assistant, Ise Nanao. She does everything for him," Chad said quietly as the two gardeners began to bicker about how she had to do weeding in the mud and he hadn't lifted a finger and really needed to do his job.

It began to be a little odd for the three of them to stand there. Inoue said a goodbye but it wasn't heard between the pleading of Kyouraku and the grumbling of his assistant and the three left.

They walked around the grounds and Rukia realized how many plants the gardeners actually had to look after. Other then the large flower garden where they had met them, there were a few smaller ones as well as a medium sized one that had vegetables growing in it. They eventually came to a wooden building that was very open, small windows in the side of it but only half a door, over which you could see inside. It was a stable. Next to it there was a small pen with a little tiny wooden house and hopping around inside the pen were -

"Bunnies!" Rukia exclaimed when she saw them and ran over to see the little animals nibble and greens and hop about. Rabbits had been her favourite animals since she was little. Ukitake raised a few and they were her favourite things to see when she visited him.

"Aren't they cute? We have rabbits, chickens and horses," Orihime said as she went to the pen as well, leaning over the side and holding a hand out to one of the little critters.

Here is where Rukia met the next member of the castle's staff. Hearing all the noise a young man exited the stable and walked towards them, wiping his hands on a cloth and then tossing it over his shoulder. He had skill seeing how it landed on the door of the table. He had white hair that seemed to defy gravity and was also on the short side.

"Some of them bite," he said, leaning on the pen.

Rukia didn't pay all that much attention, the rabbits had her interest, but Orihime looked up and smiled. "Hello Hitsugaya, how are you today?"

He shrugged and a moment later vaulted the fence that held the rabbits from running wild. He picked up one of the animals and held it out to Rukia. "This one doesn't bite, if you want to hold it you can. Kuchiki Rukia right? Momo was telling me about you."

Rukia took the rabbit carefully and cradled it in her arms and pet its head. "Does it have a name?" she inquired.

"Nope," Hitsugaya replied and he turned back to look after some of the other bunnies.

"Then I'll name her," Rukia said cheerfully and holding the bunny up so that it was eye level, "I'll call you Chappy."

"Its a boy, but you do what you want," the boy said with out looking up. He picked up another rabbit and looked at it closely for a moment before setting it back down and repeating it until he had check all the rabbits.

"How did you talk to Hinamori about her when she didn't meet her until this morning and you had already left to do work?" Chad sad suddenly almost scaring Rukia because he had been quiet for so long.

"I see Momo more than in the morning and at night," He looked up at Chad with a flat look but suddenly blushed a little and looked back at the animals, "I mean at breakfast and supper, I see her more than then."

"This is Hitsugaya Toushiro by the way, he takes care of all the animals," Inoue said, but Rukia was still paying more attention to the rabbits more than the people.

They stayed there for a while. Rukia eventually set down Chappy and they watched Hitsugaya feed them. She liked this place best out of all the places in the castle. It was out side the musty building, away from the Lord and it had these cute little animals. Chappy was by far her favourite and she paid more attention to it than the others.

When they were about ready to leave, they notice the distinctive sound of horse hooves. Hitsugaya looked annoyed when he heard it and vaulted back out of the rabbit pen and stood there with arms crossed. Rukia was glad she wasn't the only one that was clueless because Chad and Inoue seemed to exchange clueless looks.

A horse approached, it was curious, not the horse, but the one riding it. It was a young man with red hair tied back in a high ponytail. He had black tattoos on his face and his arms and probably elsewhere but fortunately he was wearing cloths so Rukia couldn't tell. There was also a feathery lump behind him on the horse that was indistinguishable at the angle the group was looking at him.

"That would be our resident hunter Abarai Renji, who is late getting home," Hitsugaya said, sounding rather unimpressed.

"Hey," Renji grinned as he hopped off his horse and grabbed the feathery things, which turned out to be a couple of geese. "Zabimaru is sweating and stuff, your gonna have to look after him kid."

"We agreed that for me to look after your horse you would have to get back here before I finish with the others and clean up. I'm not getting dirty again!" Hitsugaya snapped.

"Its your job!" Renji snapped back, "I'm busy all day getting food and doing my job and you won't do yours?"

"Your horse, you bought it and I'm not in charge of it," the argument continued, "A two geese, lot of food, that may just feed the little girl in the guard. Great job."

"It's not my fault Yachiru and everyone else eats like animals!"

They were glaring at each other and looked like they were about ready to attack when Inoue stepped forward. "Hey Abarai, have you met Ms. Kuchiki yet?"

Renji looked over at Rukia looked her up and down and smiled. "So Ichigo finally got himself a girl?"

They all looked rather cross at him. He gave them a sheepish smile and he took a step back from everyone. Rukia could understand why she was upset, they way he said it, it sounding as if she was with that monster. She had a hard time grasping why it would piss off the others. Chad and Inoue were the first to calm down; the other two both had a temper.

"Supper will be ready soon," Chad said.

"Oh and we have to see Ishida about your dresses," Inoue added.

Rukia nodded and smiled at the others, "Thank you for letting play with your rabbits Hitsugaya. See you later Renji."

* * *

The rest of the evening was interesting. They dropped by Ishida's workshop to pick up three dresses he had managed to make in the time. He promised her more would come in the next few days. They were lovely dresses and the young man clearly had skill in his trade.

They also got to see Kon's punishment. The little stuffed lion was there in a lovely looking dress, the kind a princess would where. He also had hair, long curly blonde locks. Ishida explained to Rukia that he would serve his time by wearing that for a few days before it would be removed. That would keep him behaved for about a week or so.

After that she went back to her room and cleaned up a little and got changed into one of the new dresses and headed for dinner. It was in a room other than the kitchen. A large dinning room. It was needed as all the staff ate together and they would not fit in the kitchen.

The guard was there, the only people Rukia hadn't met and one of the reasons they couldn't fit in the kitchen. Their leader was a big man, larger even than Chad the giant. He went by Zaraki Kenpachi and the first question he asked Rukia when she met him was 'Are you strong?'. There were two other men in the guard, Madarame Ikkaku and Ayasegawa Yumichika. Madarame was bald, and that was the main thing Rukia got from him. Ayasegawa on the other hand, he made a comment about knowing dress was made by Ishida and went on to say he made such lovely cloths that made him and everyone else look so pretty. There was one more person; she was introduced as the only child in the castle next to Hitsugaya (to which the animal keeper loudly protested to). Her name was Yachiru and she was a very hyper little girl.

All the staff together was amusing, loud but it was one of the most entertaining things Rukia had ever seen. Every time a small argument broke out, usually between Renji and Madarame, Zaraki would demand a fight. Yachiru ended up latched onto Madarame's head at least three times. The maid Matsumoto kept making comments about how Hitsugaya was whispering to Hinamori and how it was such a romantic thing for the kid to do. Kyouraku made passes at Ise every chance he got, and every now and then he would hit on one of the other girls only to get smacked by one of the males (or Matsumoto herself in her case).

They stayed up rather late talking. It was madness and Rukia thought it was great. She was home sick yes and didn't to be there but this took her mind off things and she felt she was able to relax. When she finally went up to bed she was exhausted and passed out almost right away.

* * *

____

_  
Author's Note_ - So Kuukaku won as the cook simply cause when I read that I couldn't stop laughing and the image wouldn't leave my brain, but I could leave everyone's favourite drunk Captian out and I thought gardener suited him will. Urahara and Company are in the fic but they show up later on Thanks to everyone that suggested an idea. Next chapter has some more Ichigo Rukia interaction... I don't know what I'm going to call it but I have an idea about how I'm gonna start it. All the pieces of the plot are falling into place. **I have another question though** I didn't say Kuukaku and Ganju's name for a reason, I wasn't sure if I wanted them to be related to Kaien and if they were Rukia would have reacted to the last name. I menton Kaien in the first chapter so... should they be related? I can swing the plot either way, one way Ukitake has a bigger role. anyways, thats all till next chapter.


	6. So Annoying

Sweet Feegeebus its an update. I refuse to give up on this one. The chapters might be a little long between but I'll keep plugging away on it, if not for myself than deffinately for my reviewers cause, your awesome. Anyways so here is a 2000 word update with, with Ichigo Rukia interaction, I hope you like it

_Disclaimer_ - I Don't own Bleach

* * *

**Beauty and the Beast**

_Chapter 6 - So Annoying_

Ichigo had not slept well. Hell all the previous day had been pretty bad, then again that's what you got when you had a demon or whatever it was living inside you. It had tried to get out, constantly yesterday. He left his room once to get food and in that time it was hard enough to keep control. He had wanted to see how that girl adapted, how she took to the castle but he would not risk leaving his room in the state he had been in. If it had won the fight, it no longer had a punching bag to beat up and he had hurt his staff enough in one lifetime.

He knew there had to be a reason it was acting up this bad. He hadn't lost an entire day to fighting it in a long time. It was because of her, he was sure of it. He was surprised it had been so willing to let her stay when now it was scared it would lose. That was it wasn't it. That monster might just lose to her and that's all any of them could pray for.

Ichigo headed to the stable now. He would take a ride and get all the air he had missed the day before. After that he would find that girl. It was Rukia wasn't it? It wouldn't hurt getting to know her, Zangetsu had suggested it after all and that old man was always right, even if he was a chuck of metal. He was one smart sword.

He hadn't expected to see her until he got back, but that didn't go the way he wanted. When he got closer to the stable he saw her, leaning against the pen that held the rabbits. He couldn't see what she was doing that well until he got closer. She was holding some vegetables, carrots and lettuce, rabbit food and holding out some to the little critters. She was talking to them too, to one in particular it would seem as she kept repeating, 'Here Chappy, here Chappy.'

"They bite you know," Ichigo said as he came up behind her.

Rukia had no idea he had been there. She jumped and let out a bit of a cry, dropping all the food she had and attracting the attention of all the rabbits. She turned to look who it was who had scared her so and seeing the bright orange hair of her captor she narrowed her eyes.

"You! I know they bite!" she snapped, "and don't do that, ever again."

"You don't get to boss me around, I'm the one in charge here remember?" he returned her bitter look.

"Doesn't mean you get to scare me."

"Oh really, I think it does."

How foolish he had been to think he could stand her long enough to get along with her. They tried to stare each other down but neither would give the other ground, it just ended up making both their eyes water. Then Ichigo got a devious smile.

"You know why we raise rabbits?" Ichigo asked with his smile, "to eat them. And that one there, Chappy? Was that what you were calling it? It looks just fat enough to make a nice stew."

Rukia looked at him with shock, she looked pretty appalled as well. "You wouldn't dare eat that rabbit," she said, a bit of a threat in her voice.

"Really? And if I did what do you think you would do?" he inquired, speaking as if it mattered.

She looked flabbergasted, she couldn't think of anything good enough to threaten him with so all she did was turn back to the rabbits. Ichigo grinned, he had won this round, and mind you it didn't mean that much since she wasn't watching him gloat.

So he left her and went into the stable looking at the stalls and the horses. Zabimaru was there which meant Renji was still in the castle. There were three other ones, Benhime, INSERT NAME HERE and Hyourinmaru. The last one was being looked after by Hitsugaya, it was his favourite horse after all.

The animal keeper looked up at his lord as he entered and shook his head before going back to the horse. "You know, its never going to work if that's how you treat her."

"Tch, what do you know?" Ichigo muttered as he went to Benhime's stall and began to get the horse ready for the ride.

"Hey, I have a girl... I mean a girl who will talk to me and doesn't hate." Ichigo couldn't see Hitsugaya but you could hear the blush in his voice.

"Yeah, whatever you say kid."

"I AM NOT A KID!"

Ichigo just shook his head. He was finished and led the horse out of the stable before he mounted. He spurred the horse forwards and left not ever noticing Rukia was watching him.

She watched him ride off, wondering how anyone could be as annoying. She was out of food now and had actually been bitten so she decided it was time to leave the rabbits for now and find something else to occupy her great amounts of time that she would be spending at the castle. There were rooms she had yet to see, the studio sounded the most appealing at the moment. She had always wanted to try her hand at art...

* * *

"You have to be polite," the gruff voice of old man Zengetsu said as he moved along side Ichigo and the horse.

"I'm not going to be polite to her," Ichigo replied, suddenly just as gruff, not because he was old but because he was a little disgruntled. The spirit of his sword had been bothering him for most of his ride. This was supposed to be relaxing for him.

"Then you might as well give up now, resign to kill them all."

Ichigo let out a humph. He couldn't just let them all die, all his servants, the only family he really had any more and that is what would happen if he didn't get control over his alter ego soon. That is what he needed her for; at least he had been told a girl was his only solution.

"She is just so annoying and hard to deal with," Ichigo muttered.

"Don't antagonize her. Maybe even apologize about the rabbit," Zangetsu suggested, "just try harder."

"I'm not apologizing about the damn rabbit," Ichigo barked and for a long moment just sat with his usual angry expression before he shifted a little and spoke again, "But I'll try..."

* * *

The ride was rather enjoyable with Zangetsu not hounding him. He got back, annoyed Hitsugaya a little more and then went to do a task he wasn't really looking forward too. He found Hinamori, the more polite of the maids, though he had seen Matsumoto first, he wanted to be in a good mood for trying to be nice to Rukia and sometimes that was impossible after talking to Matsumoto, she was a little on the annoying side too.

Hinamori told him that she had seen Rukia, along with Orihime, Chad and Ishida all up in the studio playing with the art supplies. So off he went, figuring this would be pretty easy. He could complement her art that would count as being nice to her, even if he didn't mean it.

He could hear them from down the hall talking loudly, both the girls giggling about some joke or another. When he got to the doorway of the studio he paused there and looked at the small group sitting there. Chad was sitting, his usual quiet self merely watching the others in the room while Ishida was busying himself with some needlework in his lap. Both Rukia and Orihime had canvases in front of them and a paintbrush in hand.

Ichigo snickered a little seeing this. He had seen Orihime's art before; after all she was the only one who really used the studio. The best way to talk about her was that it was similar to her taste in food, both really rather... interesting.

The group there heard his snicker and turned their heads to see who had intruded on their painting session. The servants got to their feet almost immediately, they would have bow, something in the back of their mind was telling them to but since Ichigo had taken over the castle he had made them stop with that kind of formalities. Some people took to it right away, Zaraki for example had never bowed to the young lord, Inoue on the other hand was still trying to get use to it, and it was something she had been taught her whole life to do.

When Rukia saw him however she just glowered and turned back to her artwork in the making in front of her. What did she care if nobility had just entered the room especially if it was the nobility that was keeping her here and threatened to kill her rabbit?

Ichigo waved his hand and the servant took their seats again. There was an awkward silence, between all of them for a moment before Inoue called him over. "Oh, oh, Lord Kurosaki come and look at my painting!"

Ichigo moved closer so that he could see the canvas in front of his maid. Sure enough it was interesting. It seemed to be a dolphin in a tutu; it was good, just a little on the odd side. He smiled a little looking at it and then turned to look at Rukia's. He was planning on complimenting it, start off his pretending to be nice. However when he laid eyes on the painting there was a muffled snort and then a long string of laughing.

"What the hell is that suppose to be?" he asked between laughing, hunched over a little.

Rukia turned to look at him slowly, her eyes narrowed. If you looked closely you could see her eye twitching. She looked mad; oh boy did she look mad. The others would have backed up, if they hadn't been sitting, instead they all slowly leaned away from the angry girl and the laughing lord.

None of them saw it coming, the pallet hitting Ichigo in the head as he was doubled over laughing. She had hit him with the paint side facing down which left an interesting mess in his hair. Now it was not only its usual bright orange colour but had blobs of green and blue. "Its a bunny you jackass!" she napped angrily and got up from her spot and stormed away.

Another awkward silence, Ichigo had stopped laughing and instead he looked at the door feeling a little bad. Then again that picture it was just begging to be laughed at. The other seemed to be acting as his conscious for him however.

"That was really mean Lord Kurosaki..." Inoue said quietly, feeling odd speaking against her lord.

"You probably shouldn't have done that..." Chad muttered.

"She's never going to like you if you keep acting like an ass," Ishida said, always the most vocal of the three.

Ichigo looked at the three of them and frowned. He knew Zengetsu was going to get mad at him; he didn't need these three to be doing it too. He looked at them and the look they were giving him and he let out a sigh. He turned quickly and walked out of the room with a loud and annoyed, "Fine!"

* * *

The rest of the day Rukia was rather pissed off. She had gone back to her room and spent most of her time there. Feeling so horribly miserable. She didn't want to be there. The novelty of the castle had worn off and she wanted to go back to her brother. It had been just about two days, how was she going to make it through the rest of her life?

Just before supper she decided to check on the one thing that made her happy in this place, the rabbits. It was quiet outside their pen, she saw Hitsugaya bustling about in the stables, he seemed rather annoyed and though she had just met these people she was sure it was because Renji had returned late again.

She bent over the bunny pen and held her hand out. The bunnies were getting use to her presence and knew she usually had food with her so they hopped over to her. They seemed a little miffed when they realized she didn't have food but she was happy with them just being near. Them being that close she could actually see, Chappy her favourite of the bunnies had something tied around his neck, a black piece of cloth.

She looked at it puzzled for a moment. That hadn't been there the last time she saw the rabbits. Luckily for her Hitsugaya had finished up his work and was on his way back to the castle. It was perfect timing for her to asking what exactly the cloth was.

"Hey Hitsugaya, what is that around Chappy's neck?" she inquired as he walked past.

He paused for a moment and looked into the pen looking down at the rabbits. "Oh that, a collar. Lord Kurosaki thought it would be a good idea. Kuukaku comes out to get the rabbits her self so he want to make sure she knew which one was your pet, so she didn't accidentally kill it."

Rukia continued to look puzzled as the white haired boy walked away. That prick of a lord had done nothing nice for her so far, why would he bother now? Why would he do something so... so nice?

* * *

_Author's Note_ - so there we go, I'm sorry about it being late and all. With it being summer I hope I can get the next one up sooner but I'm going camping and such (that was my movitvation to get this one done) anyways next chapter I think I'm gonna start with Byakuya and Ukitake but I'm not sure. I also plan on introducing more characters, ones I know some people are waiting for. Anyways See you around 


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